History of Detroit, a chronicle of its progress, its industries, its institutions, and the people of the fair City of the straits, / by Paul Leake ... [Vol. 3]

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HISTORY OF DETROIT

In 1862, under the second call for 200,000 men, Luther S. Trowbridge
was offered a commission as major in the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, a
post which he promptly accepted. The regiment went to the field in
December, 1862, and was engaged in outpost duty in front of Washington, with occasional raids into the enemy's country, until June,
1863. The regiment was in the meantime brigaded with the First,
Sixth and Seventh, all Michigan regiments, which afterward gained an
enviable reputation as the Michigan Brigade.
Colonel Copeland, who organized the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, was
promoted to the rank of brigadier general in command of the Michigan
Brigade in the early part of June, when General Lee was moving his
army into Pennsylvania. The Michigan Brigade was then atta~ched to
the Army of the Potomac. On June 28th, the Fifth and Sixth Michigan Cavalry entered Gettysburg and were able to send reliable information of the movements of a portion of General Lee's army to the commander of the Army of the Potomac, General Elwell's corps having
passed through Gettysburg on its march to New York. Upon the return of the Fifth and Sixth Michigan Cavalry to Emmetsburg, they
learned of a general reorganization of cavalry corps under General
Custer, then newly appointed to the command of the Michigan Brigade, which was then attached to General Kilpatrick's division.
The Brigade became engaged with Stuart's cavalry and prevented
their communication with Lee's headquarters, a fact which proved most
embarrassing to General Lee. On the night of July 2d the Brigade
approached the battlefield of Gettysburg, and the victory at that battle
was largely due to the gallant fighting of the Michigan Cavalry. It
was while leading his battalion against Stuart's batteries in the face
of almost certain death that Major Trowbridge had his horse shot under
him close to the guns of the enemy. In speaking of this incident, General Trowbridge said: "I only escaped capture through the coolness
and courage of my orderly, who dashed up with a second horse, which
I mounted, thus enabling me to escape." The brave orderly was rewarded for his action by Major Trowbridge, who secured his appointment as captain of the Tenth Michigan Cavalry, in which post he continued until the end of the war.
In the early morning of the day following the battle of Gettysburg,
the Brigade went into bivouac at Two Taverns, amid the roar of the
grns of the artillery of the Twelfth Corps as General Williams was
making his splendid fight to recover ground Johnston had wrested from
him the night before. About 8 A. M., as the brigade took its position
with the division on the left flank of the Army of the Potomac, beyond the Round Tops, General Gregory anticipated a severe fight on the
right flank of the army and ordered General Custer to take his position on that flank, where his presence proved to be of great value.
In the month immediately preceding Gettysburg, and in the month
following, the Fifth Michigan Cavalry was almost constantly engaged
in fighting. Major Trowbridge was taken sick and camne home, where
he remained for six weeks. While at home he was offered the position
of colonel of the Tenth Michigan Cavalry, which he accepted and went
with his regiment to Kentucky and Tennessee. In April, 1864, lie was
sent to destroy an important railway bridge over the Wantenaga river
at Carter's station. The affair, though not in itself important, had a
great effect on the future of the regiment, as it enabled it to drive a
superior force from an entrenched position.
When the army moved on to east Tennessee to join General Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, Colonel Trowbridge's regiment was left
as the only Union cavalry regiment in Tennessee, with headquarters